Testing ReadyBoost in Vista

To test the effectiveness of ReadyBoost on a computer system, PCSTATS has put together a PC with a couple different sizes of memory, 512MB through to 4GB. The PC will be equipped with an enthusiast and a mainstream class hard drive, to see what impact this has on ReadyBoost being able to boost performance.

The configuration should give you an idea at what
ReadyBoost can do for your computer system. We'll be testing with Supertalent
USB drives in 1Gb, 2GB and 4GB capacities. All of the Supertalent USB drives are rated for 200x transfer speeds. One 512MB PQI Memory Intellegence Stick Pro will also be used, but we're not entirely sure it is ReadyBoost compatible.

The test computer is installed with Microsoft
Windows Vista Ultimate, and packing an Intel Core
2 Duo E6600 CPU. The motherboard is a reliable Asus P5N32-E SLI Plus,
which is based on the nVIDIA nForce 650i chipset. Graphics probably
won't impact these tests in any way, so just know we have selected a MSI NX7800GTX-TT2D256E
videocard. An 80GB 7200 RPM Western Digital Caviar Serial ATA II HDD will be used because a slower hard drive should show the capabilities of ReadyBoost more than a faster HDD will.

The Windows Experience Index is a new feature built
into Windows Vista. It is designed to help consumers understand how well
Windows Vista and the software running on it will perform on a specific PC. The
index achieves this by assessing the capability of the PC and assigning a score
to it. Higher scores indicate a better Vista experience on your PC.

Windows Vista Experience Index

Memory Size Configuration:

Points

Ranking

512MB System Memory

1.7

512MB System Memory
512MB ReadyBoost

1.8

512MB System Memory 1GB
ReadyBoost

1.9

512MB System Memory 2GB
ReadyBoost

1.9

512MB System Memory 4GB
ReadyBoost

1.9

1GB System Memory

4.5

1GB System Memory 1GB
ReadyBoost

4.5

1GB System Memory 2GB
ReadyBoost

4.5

1GB System Memory 4GB
ReadyBoost

4.5

2GB System Memory

5.3

2GB System Memory 2GB
ReadyBoost

5.3

2GB System Memory 4GB
ReadyBoost

5.3

4GB System Memory

5.3

4GB System Memory 4GB
ReadyBoost

5.3

The Windows Experience Index indicates that ReadyBoost
does make a bit of a difference when there is 512MB of system memory for Vista.
The difference isn't large, but it is the only setting where we see changes with
the addition of ReadyBoost modules.